It’s a pretty heavy movie. My advice: only watch it when you are ready to give it your best attention. You’re in for a treat.

Rock Baker

I must’ve missed something when I saw Apocalypse Now, because I was pretty underwhelmed. I just found it boring and over-rated. Granted, I’m a little older now, I might should see it again someday.

Blacula, though, fun stuff! Say what you will, but we suffer for the loss of AIP’s wares.

fish eye no miko

Yes! Blacula is awesome. William Marshall is really good as Mamuwalde (“Blacula’s” real name), and makes this movie better than it has any right to be.

PB210

William Marshall also once provided the voice of Iron Man.

BeckoningChasm

And William Marshall was also Dr. Daystrom, from Star Trek’s “The Ultimate Computer.” (The M-5’s voice was done by Scotty.)

Flangepart

To me, he’ll always be the father of the M-5 computer.
“You are great…I am great…”

Rock Baker

He also played ‘death’ in an episode of Benson, for those keeping track. Benson could go off into weird territory at times, like that episode spoofing Night of the Comet!

zombiewhacker

I loved Marshall in the title role, but otherwise this was a really, really stupid film.

* Mamuwalde is traveling 18th century Europe, campaigning to free African slaves worldwide, when he is vampirized and sealed in his coffin in Transylvania. But when Mamulawalde wakes up in 20th century Los Angeles, he gives no reaction
to the fact that blacks have long since been emancipated. In fact, he doesn’t even seem to notice!

* Nor does he suffer culture shock for having awoken after almost two centuries. When he was imprisoned in his coffin, the United States hadn’t even won its indepedence yet. But not once upon his return does Mamuwalde turn to someone… anyone… on the streets of LA and whisper, “Err… this might sound like a pretty dumb question, but where the hell am I?”

* Nor do advances in technology seem to faze him. When a cab driver nearly runs him over, Mamuwalde shouts, “Watch where you’re going!” when his reaction should have been to gape at the motorized vehicle before him and shudder, “What the hell is that?”

* Similarly, Mamuwalde shuns having his picture taken by the lady photographer in the club, perhaps cognizant of the fact that vampires don’t show up on film. Except that back in 1780, for all practical purposes the modern camera didn’t exist yet.

* Mamumalde speaks fluent English. Apparently English is the official language of both Transylvania and whatever African country he originally hails from. How else would he have been able to pick it up so fast? Pimsleur method?

* The movie recycles the old Imhotep/Ankh-es-en-amon routine of having Mamuwalde search for his lost, now reincarnated love. But at least the Karloff movie had somewhat believable tension between Boris and Zita. In Blacula, Vonetta McGee doesn’t even blink at the suggestion that she is Marshall’s reincarnated lost love. The revelation that he’s really a vampire has no effect on her either. “That’s nice, honey. So would you like me to heat up the Rice-a-roni?”

*The vampire mythology is all warped. Some victims turn into vampires upon being bitten. Other victims take the more traditional approach of becoming vampires the next night after rising from the dead.

*I’ll cut the filmmakers slack for the reverse racism that occurs throughout the film (e.g. stupid white honkies). But still, it’s omnipresent.

I liked the bit where the former cabbie bursts out of the morgue in slow motion and jumps Elisha Cook Jr.

sandra

Oh, and I also liked the credits, with the cartoon bat flapping around.

alex

To Zombiewhacker: Originally the movie was written as a very cheezy comedy but William Marshall didn’t want to play a clownish figure since they were so little leading role for black actors back then and made changes to the script during filming to make Mamuwalde more dignified. Director William Crain (also a black man) agreed and this might explain why they are defintite script problems since they were probably rewriting as they went along.

P Stroud

You didn’t miss anything Rock. Having done a tour in Nam and on gunboats to boot, I’d say that there is little in the movie “Apocalypse Now” that bears any relation to reality.

Though we did make a water board to try to ski on during slack time. I emphasize the word “try”.

Flangepart

There goes Zombiewacker, applying logic again! ;)

Nice list. In ‘Love at first bite’ Drac reads a phrase book in his coffin.
“Red Hot momma?…23 Skidoo?…Published in 1923? Renfield, you idiot! This book is as out of date…as I am.”

The Rev.

I picked up on some of zombie’s list during my viewing (not all of it, though), but was enjoying myself enough to not pay much mind. For me, it’s a sign of a good, or at least enjoyable, movie if I can go along with things like that and not begrudge the movie too much. Jaws is a good example; as Ms. Kingsley points out, there are quite a few continuity errors, but honestly, the movie’s so great I really never cared. Your average episode of “The Herculoids” is another.

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